Tunisians from provinces rally in capital

Police officers chant slogans as they demonstrate in Tunis, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. Tunisia's once-feared police who carried out the repressive policies of their now exiled president are joining hands with protesters who brought down the dictator. Clusters of police guarding the daily protests on the capital's main avenue are mingling with the crowd. Placard reads " Police with the people"

TUNIS, Tunisia – More than 200 protesters from around Tunisia descended on the capital Sunday to join demands to rid the interim government of holdovers from the ousted former president's regime.

The demonstrators rallied near the prime minister's office in Tunis, waving banners and photos of a young man who set himself on fire, triggering the popular uprising that overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

"Bouazizi gave his life for his country," read one banner honoring 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi, who committed suicide in the central city of Sidi Bouzid last month to protest official harassment under Ben Ali's regime.

The "Caravan of Freedom" left Saturday on a 320-kilometer (200-mile) trek to Tunis by car, truck and motorcycle from around Sidi Bouzid, said protester Tahri Nabil. Some protesters hitchhiked.

"We don't want Sidi Bouzid to continue to be marginalized like it was in the previous decades," said Nabil, a French language teacher who lives in the town of Menzel Bouzayane near Sidi Bouzid.

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Weeks of public upheaval and the shooting deaths of some protesters by police on orders from Ben Ali's government helped send him fleeing to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14. Since then demonstrators have led peaceful protests daily in Tunis to call on the caretaker government to rid itself of his old guard.

Other countries in the Middle East and North Africa have experienced similar rallies and self-immolations after what some are calling the "Jasmine Revolution" — for the scented flower that is common in Tunisia.

An Egyptian government minister warned Sunday that investors are beginning to question Egypt's stability over fears the revolt in Tunisia could spur unrest elsewhere in the region.